Our Man in Havana
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The film is set pre-revolution. Alec Guinness lives in Havana as a vacuum cleaner salesman, trying to make a living for his daughter (Jo Morrow). He is approached by a very stiff-upper-lipped Brit (Noel Coward, very funny) to be a spy, or, as Coward puts it, "Our man in Havana." Guinness thinks he's being ridiculous, but the extra money gets him to take the job.
He is expected to make reports and recruit other agents, which he is hapless at doing. His cynical German doctor friend (Burl Ives) suggests he just make it all up, and he does, but then London sends him a secretary (Maureen O'Hara) and when his fantasies strike too close to the truth, danger lurks ahead.
Our Man in Havana has its moments, especially when Coward is on screen, but never really lifts off. It's amusing, but at the end, when real bullets are fired, it kind of sours. Guinness basically plays a straight man, which is a bit of a waste of his talent, but Ives is very good.
So--see The Third Man and Fallen Idol first, before Our Man in Havana.
Pretty much agree on this. It's well-made, visually striking and clearly made by intelligent people... yet for all it's good qualities it isn't particularly entertaining or memorable. Instead it's faintly heavy-handed and a bit of a slog to get through by the end.
ReplyDeleteAlec Guiness said in an interview that he didn't get along particularly well with Carole Reed, in that he told him to play his role realistically and naturally and Guinness much preferred to play roles as a form of characterisation and not "be himself".